At this point in the epic, Eve seems happy to yield to Adam, but not unambiguously so. Adam is lecturing her, essentially, about the reasons why they should not eat the forbidden fruit, saying that God has given them so much, and that He has only asked for their obedience on this one simple matter in return. Eve agrees, but reminisceces about the time she was staring at her own reflection in the water. Adam called her, but when she turned around, she saw him as less fair than her reflection. But Adam persuaded her to come with him, and she tells him that since then, she has come to understand that his "manly grace" is superior to pure physical beauty:

Part of my Soul I seek thee, and thee claimMy other half: with that thy gentle handSeisd mine, I yielded, and from that time seeHow beauty is excelld by manly graceAnd wisdom, which alone is truly fair.

So the reader (and, more importantly, Satan, who is listening to the whole conversation) learns that Eve truly loves and admires Adam, but that she has had her moments of doubt and weakness. Indeed, she is portrayed at this point in the poem as being ultimately inferior to Adam, whose capacity for reason exceeds her own.